The Official U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac 2014 2nd Edition | Page 70

2014 BULK SYRUP PRICING REPORT

Market cools; some buyers turning syrup away
By PETER GREGG
The bulk market has cooled off somewhat from last season following another
year of big production in the U.S. and
Canada.
“We’ve been turning some syrup
away,” said Bruce Bascom, owner of
Bascom Maple Farms in Alstead, N.H.
and one of the biggest bulk buyers in
the East.
Field prices for drum syrup in the
eastern U.S. are generally at $2.50 per
pound for the table grades. $2.40 per
pound for grade B and $2.00 for commercial.
Some buyers were paying a nickel premium for Vermont table grade syrups.
Unfiltered syrup is fetching $1.50 per
pound and ropey off flavored syrup gets
$1.00.
Note: some buyers are on the old grading system while others have switched
over to the new Vermont grades.
Most buyers have contracts for syrup
filled and are not taking new customers
with large quantities. Some buyers have
ongoing waiting lists for potential suppliers. Smaller producers with pick-up
truck loads of drums will likely still find
a home for their syrup.
The 2014 season was especially long
on unfiltered, buddy and ropey syrups
with some producers boiling well into
May. In Northern Vermont and New
York, producers were boiling until the
first week in May.
As a result, there is an overabundance
of off-flavor syrup.
Bascom, who is one of the nations big70

BULK BUYER LISTING
Anderson’s Pure
Maple Syrup
Cumberland, Wisc.
Steve Anderson
715-822-8512

Butternut
Mountain Farm
Morrisville, Vt.
David Marvin
800-828-2376

Bacon Farm Maple
Products, LLC
Sidney, Maine
207-547-5053

Highland
Sugarworks
Websterville, Vt.
802-479-1747

Bascom Maple
Farms
Alstead, N.H
Bruce Bascom
603-835-6361

The Island Pond
Maple